Laws would see doctor disciplinary records online

The Queensland Government wants new laws introduced that allow a doctor's disciplinary record placed online for patients to see.

The laws, which should be in place by September, come after damning reports filed in the state's Parliament last month exposed endemic problems within Queensland's medical complaints processes.

One report found "extraordinary delays" and discipline that did not reflect "the seriousness of complaints".

Health Minister Lawrence Springborg says the Government has a "very strong case" case for the new laws.

The Government will also create a new Queensland health ombudsman who will decide which authority will investigate complaints.

An expert panel reviewed more than 600 complaints and found that 60 per cent were not handled in a timely or appropriate way.

One complaint took more than six years to investigate.

Mr Springborg demanded that the 10 members of the state's medical board show cause as to why they should not be sacked.

"I think we should be looking at timeframes certainly within [a] year," Mr Springborg said.

"It would only be very, very complex cases in my view that would need to go much beyond that."

Most of the board has resigned, and the ABC has learned the remaining three will be sacked within the week.

The new board looks certain to be restocked with fewer doctors and have mandated timeframes for processing complaints.

History of complaints

Dr Gresham Clapham is one of six doctors recommended for police investigation over possible offences including criminal negligence and grievous bodily harm.

The investigation was recommended during the fallout from a series of independent reports sparked by a former medical board investigator-turned-whistleblower.

His disciplinary record, which was released under Freedom of Information laws, shows there had been 18 complaints against him.

However, patients looking at his publicly available registration certificate on the national database would have no way of knowing his history.

Under reprimands, the database lists none.

Medical lawyer Margaret Brian has been practising for 30 years and says she has never seen that amount of complaints against one doctor.

Ms Brian represented one of Dr Clapham's patients, Heather Fuller, who had a lap-band operation.

Another of Dr Clapham's patients, Marnie Feuerriegel, who is now in her 20s, underwent an appendectomy when she was 14.

Dr Clapham performed the routine appendectomy at Calvary Hospital in Cairns, but something went wrong - the stump leaked.

Over the next few days fluids and partially digested food began seeping into Marnie's torso cavity.

It wasn't until I woke up a few days later in intensive care and looked down at my stomach and what was normally a clear canvas - I now had like staples, like a 20cm line of staples going all the way down my body, and then I had a tube in my side and colostomy bag.

Marnie Feuerreigel

Dr Clapham operated again and later discharged his young patient, but Marnie's decline continued and her parents became increasingly worried.

Two days later they took her to a local GP.

"He said you need to get her to an emergency ward straight away," said Marnie's mother, Nancy.

"She has abscesses on her liver and abscesses on her lungs which explains why she is having trouble breathing."

Marnie was then rushed to Cairns base hospital where a doctor told Nancy Feuerriegel that her daughter might not see the morning.

Marnie underwent emergency surgery and was intensive care for days.

"It wasn't until I woke up a few days later in intensive care and looked down at my stomach and what was normally a clear canvas - I now had like staples, like a 20cm line of staples going all the way down my body, and then I had a tube in my side and a colostomy bag," she said.

"It was like a bad dream. And the pain. Even just turning a centimetre it was the most intense pain I've ever felt in my life.

"At the time I didn't know that they'd taken all my organs out and washed me with saline solution and stitched me back up."

'Deficient' judgment

Marnie still bears the scars from the plastic surgery.

The Feuerriegels complained to the medical board - a process which took three years.

It found Dr Clapham's record-keeping and clinical judgment were deficient and he failed to recognise the seriousness of Marnie's condition.

The conditions placed on him included seeking a second opinion if patients had adverse outcomes and ensuring his notes were detailed - but those expired just months later.

Dr Clapham is still registered but is no longer working at his clinic in downtown Cairns.

Outside his home, Dr Clapham declined 7.30's invitation for an interview and said he would not be making any comment.